Due to some technical difficulties, I wrote much of this yesterday but couldn't post till today.
Yesterday was the first annual KC Triathlon. Kudos to those who worked tirelessly to make a race that was great for triathletes and TriSupporters. It was easy to watch the swim, bike, and run without having to haul all over the place.
Rianman and I got a bit of a late start when we both hit snooze a few too many times. Despite that we got to the race site by about 5:20 AM and Rianman was able to get an excellent inside, end spot on a rack close to the bike in/out. The end gives you the benefit of spreading out your transition set up without being squeezed in by others.
As usual, I took a picture of the dawn breaking. I think I do this because I so rarely see the sun rise and must capture it for evidence—yes, I can wake up early if I need to.
As Rianman was setting up, the clouds from the overnight thunderstorm passed and a rainbow appeared…it was a sign of the great race day to come.
Once Rianman was set up, Christy and Marcus called to say they arrived to cheer and thankfully they were nice enough to bring me a much needed caffeine hit…why isn't there coffee at these races? You know how many people would pay a lot for coffee at a tri? Hmmm…there's a thought.
At 7 am, I sprayed Rianman down with TriSlide and he put on his wetsuit and walked to the swim start. There were 4 waves, male and female each for the Olympic and sprint to start at 7:30am.
At 7:30 the boom was heard and all Olympic men were in the water. 5 minutes later the women were off and after about 20 minutes or so the first woman came in only after a handful of men….she caught up and passed probably 100 or more men…what a rock star!
Once Rianman ran by us after about 31 minutes (not his best swim by a long shot but it was his first open water in 8 months), we were off to see him at T1. He had a nice time coming in under 2 minutes (woo hoo) and was off on the bike. At that point, we headed to Raytown Road so we could watch as the riders would pass us twice. I forgot my cow bell so it was a lot of clapping. Rianman looked good on the bike and based on our watch, he was having a good ride. He did end up averaging 19.6 so he's really happy…that's a big improvement over last year's averages even on fast courses.
Once he was off on his run, we found a shady spot near the finish line. We watched and cheered and were very impressed by the men who wore Speedos and not much else…ouch?!?!
Rianman came by us to round into the finish with a time of 2:41:26. He felt good and was happy with his transition times, bike and run. The swim will come with some open water practice which is to start this week.
We had a great first race of the season and in just 2 weeks we'll be in Lawrence for the 70.3…can't wait!! All kinds of triathlete stars will be there and many of our friends. It's going to be another great cheering day.
Again great job to all those we know who raced, volunteered, and put on the first KC Tri.
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